Facilitating rhythm-based user input with enhanced feedback and audio tracks

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to computer software and musical gameplay elements. More specifically, aspects of the disclosure provide a method of using multiple musical tracks of varying intensity based on well-timed user inputs and/or player advancement in a rhythm-based video game. Other aspects of the disclosure relate to techniques to improve player on beat inputs in a rhythm-based video game.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 63/018,230, entitled “Facilitating Rhythm-Based User Input withEnhanced Feedback and Audio Tracks,” filed Apr. 30, 2020, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF USE

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to computer software andmusical gameplay elements. More specifically, aspects of the disclosureprovide a method of using multiple musical tracks of varying intensitybased on well-timed user inputs and/or player advancement in arhythm-based video game. Other aspects of the disclosure relate totechniques to improve well-timed (on beat) player inputs and adjustanimations to accommodate player inputs in a rhythm-based video game.

BACKGROUND

Rhythm-based video games typically comprise playback of a song andrequire players to provide well-timed user inputs in time with the music(e.g., on the musical beats of a song). Rhythm-based video games findimplementation in many forms, such as on video game consoles, arcadecabinets, personal computers, and in augmented/virtual reality devices.

However, in these games the song typically “is” the level, with theduration of the game levels linked to the length of the songs.Additionally, the song may not adequately adapt to events in the game,or change based on a user's performance. And such games may fail toadequately account for latency issues, including reasonable human error.

Aspects herein address these and other problems.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects describedherein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intendedto identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of theclaims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in asimplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detaileddescription provided below.

Aspects described herein may be implemented in a rhythm-based game. Forexample, the illustrative embodiment discussed herein is a first personshooter game that incorporates rhythm-based gameplay elements. But itwill be appreciated that the features and techniques described hereinmay find application in any suitable rhythm-based game, whether firstperson or otherwise and incorporating any suitable rhythm-based gamemechanics and/or suitable gameplay modalities besides shooters. Playerscan perform actions in time with the beat to improve their score,represented visually by a beat matching HUD indicator and a scoremultiplier. Performing actions on-beat increases the score multiplierand intensifies music using a dynamic music layering system. Unliketypical rhythm games, aspects described herein may enable playerprogression through a level to be tied to in-game events and playerperformance, rather than be beholden to the length and structure of apre-recorded musical track.

Thus, aspects described herein may provide a method of playingprogressive musical tracks as the player advances through a game levelin a rhythm-based game. Segments of an overall musical piece may be usedand played back to move forward in music as the player moves forward inthe level. And aspects described herein may provide a method for playingincreasingly intense and/or progressive musical track segments based onplayer performance. A game may determine a plurality of musical trackscorresponding to a level. Each musical track may comprise a differentversion of a song and correspond to a respective tier of a set of playerperformance tiers. The game may begin a level of the game, and the usermay be assigned a tier of the set of player performance tiers. The gamemay play back audio of a first musical track, of the plurality ofmusical tracks, corresponding to the first tier when the player is in afirst tier, of the set of player performance tiers, while playing thegame. The game may track a plurality of player actions using a tiermeter, wherein player actions performed on beat with the audio of thefirst musical track cause the tier meter to increase. The game maydetermine, based on the tier meter, that the player has advanced to asecond tier of the set of player performance tiers. The game may playback audio of a second musical track, of the plurality of musicaltracks, corresponding to the second tier when the player is in thesecond tier while playing the game. Playing back the audio of the secondmusical track comprises continuously lowering a volume of the firstmusical track while increasing a volume of the second musical track.

Other aspects described herein may provide for timing adjustments incomputer animations in a rhythm-based video game, allowing playerattacks to line up with musical features and appear on-time to a user. Aspeed of an animation timing may be adjusted to address a length betweenbeats of a musical track. And player and enemy character positions maybe adjusted to allow animations to better synchronize with the musicaltrack. These aspects may be adjusted to fit a player or enemy attackanimation within a time window between beats, and may provide formusically synchronized animations, generally more satisfying forplayers.

Aspects described herein may be implemented on any suitable platform,such as on video game consoles, arcade cabinets, personal computers,augmented reality devices, and/or virtual reality devices. These aspectsmay also be embodied in a computer readable medium comprising gamesoftware instructions configured to cause a computing device to performthe associated steps. They may also be embodied in a computing devicecomprising a processor and memory storing instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the computing device to perform theassociated steps.

These features, along with many others, are discussed in greater detailbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitedin the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a computing device that may be used inimplementing one or more aspects of the disclosure in accordance withone or more illustrative aspects discussed herein in accordance with oneor more illustrative aspects discussed herein;

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative arrangement of audio tracks for a givenact having different tiers of intensity in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein;

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative fading of audio tracks during a tiertransition in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects discussedherein;

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative game display in accordance with one ormore illustrative aspects discussed herein;

FIG. 5 depicts an example method of transitioning between intensitytiers of audio tracks in accordance with one or more illustrativeaspects discussed herein;

FIG. 6A depicts an illustrative act arrangement for a song/level inaccordance with one or more illustrative aspects discussed herein;

FIG. 6B depicts an example playback diagram when transitioning betweenacts of a song/level in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdiscussed herein;

FIG. 7 depicts an example method of transitioning between acts of asong/level in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects discussedherein;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative game display in accordance with one ormore illustrative aspects discussed herein;

FIG. 9 depicts an example method of controlling animation timing inaccordance with one or more illustrative aspects discussed herein; and

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative input window in accordance with one ormore illustrative aspects discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the embedded drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which isshown by way of illustration various embodiments in which aspects of thedisclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modificationsmay be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Aspects of the disclosure are capable of other embodiments and of beingpracticed or being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to beunderstood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for thepurpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. Rather,the phrases and terms used herein are to be given their broadestinterpretation and meaning. The use of “including” and “comprising” andvariations thereof is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter andequivalents thereof as well as additional items and equivalents thereof.

Aspects of the disclosure are discussed further below with reference toan example embodiment, a first-person shooter game with musical andrhythmic gameplay elements. Aspects described herein may find particularapplication in a first-person shooter game comprising levels that theplayer character moves through and in which the player encountersenemies and obstacles. Musical and rhythm-based gameplay elements may beused to control how the player interacts with enemies and obstacles inthe game, and a player's on beat actions may be rewarded, such asthrough a higher score and/or additional damage to game enemies.According to some aspects, the game may be broken up into a series oflevels. A level may correspond to the duration of a musical experience,for example a level may be one musical song. As described furtherherein, a level may be broken down further into logical segments, e.g.,sub-levels, using an act structure corresponding to progression throughthe overall musical experience associated with the level.

Before discussing these concepts in greater detail, however, severalexamples of a computing device that may be used in implementing and/orotherwise providing various aspects of the disclosure will first bediscussed with respect to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a computing device 101 that may beused to implement one or more illustrative aspects discussed herein. Forexample, computing device 101 may, in some embodiments, implement one ormore aspects of the disclosure by reading and/or executing instructionsand performing one or more actions based on the instructions. In someembodiments, computing device 101 may represent, be incorporated in,and/or include various devices such as a desktop computer, a computerserver, a mobile device (e.g., a laptop computer, a tablet computer, asmart phone, any other types of mobile computing devices, and the like),and/or any other type of data processing device.

Computing device 101 may, in some embodiments, operate in a standaloneenvironment. In others, computing device 101 may operate in a networkedenvironment. As shown in FIG. 1, various network nodes 101, 105, 107,and 109 may be interconnected via a network 103, such as the Internet.Other networks may also or alternatively be used, including privateintranets, corporate networks, LANs, wireless networks, personalnetworks (PAN), and the like. Network 103 is for illustration purposesand may be replaced with fewer or additional computer networks. A localarea network (LAN) may have one or more of any known LAN topology andmay use one or more of a variety of different protocols, such asEthernet. Devices 101, 105, 107, 109 and other devices (not shown) maybe connected to one or more of the networks via twisted pair wires,coaxial cable, fiber optics, radio waves or other communication media.

As seen in FIG. 1, computing device 101 may include a processor 111, RAM113, ROM 115, network interface 117, input/output interfaces 119 (e.g.,keyboard, mouse, display, printer, etc.), and memory 121. I/O 119 mayinclude a variety of interface units and drives for reading, writing,displaying, and/or printing data or files. I/O 119 may be coupled with adisplay such as display 120. Memory 121 may store software forconfiguring computing device 101 into a special purpose computing devicein order to perform one or more of the various functions discussedherein. Memory 121 may store operating system software 123 forcontrolling overall operation of computing device 101, control logic 125for instructing computing device 101 to perform aspects discussedherein, computer-aided design (CAD) application 127, web browserapplication 129, and other applications 129. Control logic 125 may beincorporated in and may be a part of CAD application 127. In otherembodiments, computing device 101 may include two or more of any and/orall of these components (e.g., two or more processors, two or morememories, etc.) and/or other components and/or subsystems notillustrated here.

Devices 105, 107, 109 may have similar or different architecture asdescribed with respect to computing device 101. Those of skill in theart will appreciate that the functionality of computing device 101 (ordevice 105, 107, 109) as described herein may be spread across multipledata processing devices, for example, to distribute processing loadacross multiple computers, to segregate transactions based on geographiclocation, user access level, quality of service (QoS), etc.

One or more aspects discussed herein may be embodied in computer-usableor readable data and/or computer-executable instructions, such as in oneor more program modules, executed by one or more computers or otherdevices as described herein. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data typeswhen executed by a processor in a computer or other device. The modulesmay be written in a source code programming language that issubsequently compiled for execution, or may be written in a scriptinglanguage such as (but not limited to) HTML or XML. The computerexecutable instructions may be stored on a computer readable medium suchas a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid statememory, RAM, etc. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, thefunctionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed asdesired in various embodiments. In addition, the functionality may beembodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents such asintegrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and thelike. Particular data structures may be used to more effectivelyimplement one or more aspects discussed herein, and such data structuresare contemplated within the scope of computer executable instructionsand computer-usable data described herein. Various aspects discussedherein may be embodied as a method, a computing device, a dataprocessing system, or a computer program product.

Having discussed several examples of computing devices which may be usedto implement some aspects as discussed further below, discussion willnow turn to a method of using multiple musical tracks of varyingintensity and progression based on well-timed user inputs and/or playeradvancement in a rhythm-based video game. Other aspects of thedisclosure relate to techniques to improve player well-timed (on beat)inputs in a rhythm-based video game

Layered Music

Embodiments of aspects described herein may use music in several ways toenhance the experience of a game player. As a first example, embodimentsmay change the intensity of the game music based on a player'sperformance, such as due to a series of well-timed inputs. As a secondexample, embodiments may progress a music track as the player enterscertain areas or advances through a game level. Progress and intensityof the music generated by the game may be tied to player performance andprogression through a game level.

According to some embodiments, player performance may be tracked (e.g.,rated) according to a set of tiers. Tiers may be used to adjust musicalintensity, determine an amount of points to add to a player's score, orotherwise modify the behavior or results of the game. For example, acurrent tier may be used to determine how much score a player willreceive for performing a certain action (killing an enemy, damaging anenemy, picking up a power-up). Music assets in the game may also bedivided into tiers, according to some aspects. The tiers may correspondto increasing intensity of the music, which may be accomplished usingadditional layers for the music adding elements such as additionalinstruments, melodies, basslines, and other musical components. Thedifferent layers may be essentially different versions of the same song,with (for example) the lowest tier being the most mellow and the highestbeing the most intense. Typically, each tier in succession retains someor all of the musical elements of the previous tier.

In an example embodiment, player performance may be tracked in fivetiers corresponding to layers of intensity. These layers of intensitymay be conveyed to the user through increasingly intense music, addingadditional musical layers as mentioned above. For example, a tierprogression according to some aspects may be as follows:

-   -   Tier 1: Percussion and keys    -   Tier 2: Drums and a bassline    -   Tier 3: Guitar and more intense drums/bass    -   Tier 4: Additional guitar intensity/guitar solos    -   Tier 5: Vocals+all elements of other tiers        As mentioned, each tier may retain some or all of the musical        elements of the prior tiers, while adding musical layers to the        song.

The different layers of music corresponding to the tiers may increase inintensity as the player ascends the tiers. For example, FIG. 2illustrates an audio intensity of each music track 201-205 associatedwith the example 5 tiers above.

According to some aspects, each tier may be mastered independently ofeach other. The music of each tier may be an independent audio track,able to stand on its own rather than comprising only additional isolatedinstruments. By separately mastering the music tracks for each tier,rather than dynamically combining isolated instruments that can becombined programmatically, the mastering process may provide a higherquality audio output. Mastering only the additional layers and thencombining them may yield unsatisfactory results from an audio qualityperspective. Separately mastering the tracks may have other benefits,such as allowing composers to use the highest tier (e.g., tier 5) musictrack as a full song containing all instruments and vocals, which couldbe used as the complete soundtrack for the game.

According to some aspects, when the player achieves a new tier(discussed further herein) the game may transition to the musiccorresponding to the tier (whether moving up a tier to more intensemusic, or moving down to less intense music). An increase or decrease inmusical track intensity may be controlled to happen gradually as to notoverwhelm the player or make the player feel like a new piece of musichas been introduced. The higher intensity track may feel like anothermember of the band has just come on stage while the other members are“jamming harder” (and vice versa for a tier drop). In transitioning, thegame may interpolate between the music of the current tier and the musicof the next tier over a period of time. This may comprise playing backmusic based on interpolated features of overlapping sections of themusic track for the current tier of the music track for the next tierover the period of time. In some implementations, a period of around 2seconds may provide a suitable transition window that provides apleasing user experience. For example, a random wait period of 1 to 3seconds may be used before fading in a track of higher or lowerintensity. A random delay may provide sufficient variation to avoidcausing the player to feel like transitions are static or scripted.During the transition, the volume of the music for the current tier maybe gradually reduced while the volume of the music for the next tier maybe increased.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example transition between two tiers of music. Thetop line of FIG. 3 illustrates a volume of the music corresponding tothe current tier of music 310, listed in decibels. The bottom line ofFIG. 3 illustrates the volume of the music corresponding to the nexttier of music 320. As can be seen in the graph, when the player movesfrom the current tier to the next tier, the music of the current tiermay have its volume lowered while the music of the next tier mayincrease in volume. The music of the current tier may fade out and themusic of the next tier may proceed playing at the full output volume.

The player may move between tiers based on their performance in thegame. As the player performs actions in the game, they may increaseand/or decrease their tier standing within the game, such as through ascore, combo meter, and/or other suitable ways of tracking playerperformance described herein. Progression through a tier, to the nexttier (or back down to the prior tier) may be tracked using a tier meter.Once the user fills the meter (or the meter runs out), the game mayadvance the user to the next tier (or back down to the prior tier).Typically increasing a tier involves the player performing positiveactions within the context of the game, such as

-   -   Killing enemies    -   Killing enemies in time with the music    -   Damaging enemies in time with the music    -   Using a specialty weapon in time with the music

A player tier may decrease based on negative actions taken by the playerin the context of the game, such as getting hit by enemies. The game mayalso penalize players for being passive—the tier meter may be constantlydepleting which may require the player to keep performing positiveactions to maintain a high tier meter. The rate of depletion may varybased on the current tier, with high level tiers depleting faster thanlow level tiers. According to some aspects, players might not bedirectly penalized for failing to perform actions in time with themusic, but poorly timed actions may allow the tier meter to keepdepleting at its current tier rate.

According to some aspects, each tier may have a multiplier thresholdused in accordance with the tier meter to determine when the user hasfilled the tier meter and thus advanced to the next level. Once theplayer exceeds the multiplier threshold, the game may advance the playerto the next level. As mentioned above, performing positive actions mayfill the meter, negative actions may deplete the meter at varying rates.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the tier meter with multiplierthreshold 405, in an illustrative game screen. Also illustrated is ascore meter 410 and a combo meter 415.

The player's tier and/or associated multiplier may be used to determinethe amount of score that the player receives from killing enemies(and/or other game actions). For example, using the five tiers exampleabove, a translation table may be:

-   -   Tier 1: 1× score    -   Tier 2: 2× Score    -   Tier 3: 4× Score    -   Tier 4: 8× Score    -   Tier 5: 16× Score

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary method 500 for intensity tier progression,according to aspects described herein. At step 505, the game (e.g.,executing on a computing device) may track player scoring events anddetermine a cumulative score for the play within a current context(e.g., within a portion of the level). At step 510, the game maydetermine whether the player's score meets a threshold to advance to anext tier. If the score does not meet the requirements for the nexttier, the game continues to track player score events, returning to step505. If the score does meet the requirements for the next tier, the gamedetermines at step 515 to advance to the next tier. At step 520, thegame may wait for a transition period. For example, as describer abovethe game may wait for a random period between 1-3 seconds. At step 525,the game may initiate an audio fade out from the current trackcorresponding to the current intensity level, and an audio fade in ofthe next track corresponding to the next intensity level. The method maythen return to continue tracking player scoring events at step 505, forexample to determine if the player again advances to a further tier ofintensity.

Traditional songs have a beginning and end, with segments in between.According to some aspects, songs for a game as described herein may havemultiple tracks of varying intensity. But songs for a game as describeherein may also comprise different parts that correspond to gameplayportions or “acts”. While tier changes may communicate to the player howwell they are doing, act changes may foster the feeling that the musicis progressing from start to finish as the player plays through a level.Each act may be a self-contained part of the song and may loopseamlessly from beginning to end of the act. An act may comprise areasonably long loop of music (for example, 1-2 minutes in duration),which may provide enough variation to hide the fact that the music islooping. One benefit of this act structure is that it may solve theproblem of being able to have a song of infinite length, but still haveit feel like a real song, since music progression is driven by theplayer moving forward (within the game) which may take any variableamount of time.

According to some embodiments, a standard act structure may be utilized.These gameplay portions for the songs in the game may be common to eachsong, such that songs for use in the game are structured to havesegments corresponding to each gameplay portion within a game level. Forexample, each song in the game may follow the same formula with thefollowing acts:

-   -   Intro    -   Act 1    -   Act 2    -   Act 3        Although a standard act structure may have benefits described        above, the game may apply a flexible act structure to        accommodate levels of varying lengths which may comprise        additional acts.

In many cases, acts correspond to segments of an overall song, such asan Intro, Verse (Act 1), Chorus (Act 2), and another Verse, Chorus, orsome Crescendo (Act 3). However, a more generic structure with the introand three acts above may allow developers to be flexible for each songand/or level. A goal of the game may be to allow a player to experiencea song from beginning to end, with varying intensity depending on howwell they play. However, when the player is playing through a level thatis not tied to the duration of a song, the game does not know how longit will take for the player to play through a level. Players may enjoyplaying at their own pacing, and tying the level length to the durationof the song may force players forward beyond their own pacing. Thus themusical segments of an Act may be relatively long, such as 2 minutes,and may loop if the player is slow and does not progress to the next Actin an expected time.

Thus, according to aspects described herein, the game may keep playingthe same act indefinitely, until the player moves into a separate partof the level. Each song is split into appropriate acts as describedabove. The transition from one act to another is not driven by time ormusic, it is triggered by the player (for example, moving from one roomto another), according to some aspects. This means that staying in thebeginning room of a level will continue to loop the intro (but can stillchange intensity based on score multiplier), but the song will notprogress to the verse until the player moves to the next room. This mayresult in an infinitely long song, driven by the player, which stillfollows a musical journey. FIG. 6A illustrates a musical output andlooping 600 of acts 610-650.

Progressing through the musical acts, according to aspects describedherein, is based on player actions. For example, a trigger to changebetween acts may be when the player character enters a particular gamelocation (e.g., a defined 3D volume within the level model) or ascripted event (e.g. an in-game cutscene). One problem to solve whenmoving to a new act is making the transition feel smooth enough for theplayer. Simply skipping to a particular time signature in the song(e.g., the beginning) when a new act begins may be jarring to the playerand may throw the music off beat. A first approach to act transitionsmay involve transitioning to a new next act on the next beat. This mayremove the issue of throwing the music off beat, but may feel unnaturalto the player and may seem like someone simply skipping in a song.Another challenge with this first approach is that if the next beat in a4/4 tempo was, for example, the second beat, a naïve approach wouldprogress into a new act starting at the first beat of a new musical barwhen musically we would expect to be on the third beat of the bar.

According to aspects disclosed herein, a second approach to actprogression may address these problems. The game may control progressionto limit act transition such that it can only happen after the finalbeat in a musical bar/measure, such as after the fourth beat in a 4/4tempo. Act transition points may additionally and/or alternatively betied to transition markers in the musical tracks for an act, which maybe configured by an audio designer at points conducive to musicaltransitions. Dividing each act into smaller segments, each between atransition marker, may facilitate seamless movement to a new act whilenot ending up off beat or changing music in the middle of a bar.However, this approach may still be improved further. In this approach,there may still be challenges in transitions between acts. Thetransitions may occur on beat and happen on a new musical bar, but maynonetheless sometimes feel unnatural. This may be because a new actchange could be triggered when the player was not expecting it to be. Ina regular musical progression, a musical sequence might have 4 bars ofintro, 8 bars of verse, 8 bars of chorus, then return back to verse (forexample). But since act changes may happen at any time, the structure ofthe song could feel a little off to players.

Thus, a third approach may improve on the second approach byincorporating transition segments. Transition segments may be a smallpiece of transition music, such as 1-4 musical bars that may indicatesomething was going to change. For example, a transition segment couldcomprise a build-up of drums, a small riff change—content serving as abridge, in musical terms. Structurally, each song may include one ormore transition segments between each act which is not part of thedefined act loop. When transitioning between acts at a suitable finalbeat and/or transition marker, the game may playback all or a suitableportion of the transaction segment corresponding to a transition betweena current act and the next act. For example, an exemplary embodiment isillustrated in FIG. 6B. Audio playback is illustrated by wave 650.During current act 660, audio playback comprises music corresponding tothe current act 660. If a transition to the next act is triggered attime 673 (through suitable gameplay logic, such as determining that theplayer has progressed through a door to the next act or portion of thelevel), the music corresponding to the current act will continue playinguntil a transition point has been reached after the transition istriggered. For example, act 660 may comprise transition points 665A-Eregularly (and/or irregularly) spaced in time throughout the track. Ifthe gameplay trigger 673 occurs after transition point 665D, the gamewill wait until transition point 665E to begin the transition. Once themusic reaches transition point 665E (e.g., the next transition pointafter the trigger occurs), a transition segment 670 (e.g., a musicalbuild up) takes over and starts playing. Once the transition segment isfinished, the next act 680 begins and music corresponding to act 680 isplayed back. As a result, the game may provide the player with a morenatural, seamless audio transition between musical acts of thesong/level as the player progresses.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative method 700 for act progression in arhythm-based game. At step 705, the game (e.g., executing on a computingdevice) may playback audio tracks corresponding to a current act of thelevel. A particular audio track corresponding to the act but having anintensity level matching the player's current tier of play may be playedback, as described above. At step 710, the game may track a player'sprogress through the game environment, and/or other gameplay conditions.At step 715, the game may determine whether the player meets the triggerconditions for the next act. For example, the game may determine whetherthe player has entered a defined 3D location within the game environmentthat is associated with a transition to the next act. As anotherexample, a scripted trigger may occur in the game that triggers thetransaction to the next act. If the act change conditions are not met,the game continues to track player progress at step 710. If the playerdoes meet the trigger conditions for the next act, the game maydetermine to advance to the next act at step 720. At step 725, the gamemay wait for a transition point within the tracks for the current act.At step 730, the game may play a transition segment audio trackcorresponding to a transition between the current act and the next act.Once the transition segment is complete, at step 735 the game may playthe audio tracks corresponding to the next act. For example, the audiotrack corresponding to the next act at the player's current intensitytier may be selected and played back. The game may return to trackingthe player's progress through the level and track transition to afurther act.

Beat Matching and Audio/Visual Feedback

Games implementing one or more aspects described herein may perform beatmatching techniques to determine how well-timed player inputs are intime with the music, and utilize audio and visual feedback to assist theplayer in improved timing.

Beat matching, as tracked by the game, is the act of clicking a button(for example, gamepad or mouse or preferred input) at the same time asthe beat (or tick) in music occurs. In some implementations, a bear mayoccur every 4/4 per measure as in standard music theory. In suchimplementations, a measure of music would always have 4 beats and theplayer would have 4 opportunities per measure to press a button on beatsuccessfully.

The game may keep track of the amount of samples that have been playedfrom the audio system—known as DSP time. For each frame (e.g., units ofgameplay updates), the game may check:

-   -   Where in the song are we?    -   Are we on a beat (see below calculation)?    -   Has the player pressed the correct input close to when a beat        occurs?

Because songs for the game, according to some aspects, are commonlyauthored according to the game mechanics described above, the game canpre-determine the tempo of each song and hence calculate the tempo andwhen each beat occurs during gameplay. Audio analysis is not necessaryto calculate the in-game beat timing. For example, if a song has 130beats per minute (bpm), the time between beats can be calculated by (60seconds/130)=0.46153 seconds.

However, audio feedback can be an important aspect of successful rhythmgameplay to players. The user needs to know that they have performed anaction correctly. According to some aspects, the game may providefeedback in output audio elements to assist the player in determininghow well-timed their actions were. For example, an embodiment mayprovide a core success feedback mechanism through a kick drum that playsin beat with the rest of the music, essentially reinforcing the beat.The game may play the sound the player expects to hear when they dosomething correctly. But if the player fails to hit on beat, the soundis cut off. This feedback may assist the player in providing successfulon beat input.

The audio feedback may be implemented using a new track, different fromthe music corresponding to the tiers, playing at the same time as thelevel song. The track may contain the audio feedback, such as the kickdrum playing on beat throughout the song. This audio feedback thusindicates the beat to the player. In some implementations, some audiofeedback may be tied to whether the user is equipped with a specialweapon or other gameplay criteria. For example, certain weapons orgameplay approaches may have the weapon (or other aspect) itself triggera sound, and the objective may be for the player to use (e.g., shake)the weapon in time with the music. However, even players with musicalskill may have a challenge with keeping perfect timing between theweapon inputs and the game music. This may result in an audio experiencethat feels off beat. Similarly, even with timely inputs, latency ininput lag, video latency, and/or audio latency may create a scenariowhere a perfectly on beat input occurs too late to feasibly play a soundin response while sounding on beat to the player.

Thus, according to some aspects the volume of the on beat track (e.g.,the kick drum track) may be raised assuming the player is going to hitthe beat. Rather than play a sound when the user provides input, thegame may instead render a separate track with the audio feedback playingon each beat and control the volume of this track based on playerinputs. When the game gets a beat, the game expects user input. If thesuccessful, on beat user input is not received by the time the gameleaves the beat (e.g., advances to the next beat), then the player hasfailed to hit the beat. If the player misses the beat, the game canimmediately cut off the volume of the on beat track. The volume of theon beat track may remain muted until the user successfully hits a beat,at which point the on beat track may be raised back up in volume. Inthis way, a player may receive audio feedback for on beat hits thatencourages further on beat hits. By raising the volume instead ofqueuing up a piece of audio to play, the kick sound may be perfectly onbeat and to the player it makes no difference, they still perceive it asthem hitting perfectly on beat.

Since the on beat track is always in perfect sync with the beat, hittingthe beat, even if the player is off or early by a few milliseconds, theon beat track will still play and the player will feel like they arealways hitting perfectly on beat. This may help account for inherentdelays in receiving player input, as well as the player's brainreceiving the audio feedback output by the game. Raising or lowering thevolume of the feedback track need only be done when the player's timelyinput state changes. That is, when the player goes from failing to be onbeat to hitting on beat, the volume may be raised. Similarly, when aplayer starts to fail to hit on beat input, the volume may be lowered.If the player maintains consecutive on beat inputs, no change is neededand the game keeps playing the feedback track at the current volume.

Accordingly, when the game receives player attack input, the game maydetermine if the input is within a beat threshold (e.g., whether theinput in on beat or close). If the prior input was on beat, then nochange is needed. If the prior input was off beat, then the game canraise the volume of the feedback track. If the player's current input isnot on beat, then the game can lower the volume of the feedback track ifnot already at a low or muted volume.

The audio feedback techniques described above may introduce twoartifacts. First, when the on beat track is playing and the user missesa beat, cutting of the sound can sometimes be audible. However, thisartifact can be solved using game audio effects. To eliminate audiopopping, according to some aspects, instead of transitioning instantlybetween—infinity and 0 DB, the game may perform a very fast linear fadein and out. Around 8-10 milliseconds may be enough to remove potentialpops.

Similarly, when the user has missed a beat and manages to get on beatthe next beat, the game raises the on beat volume. Since this can happenslightly after a beat, the first kick drum (or other audio feedback) maybe slightly cut off. Beginning playing a sound on player input, evenwhen that input is perfectly on beat, may be already too late in view oflatency. The same applies to a fade. The game may need to know ahead oftime if the player is going to hit on beat or not in order to play aperfect first kick (feedback) when the state changes. This challenge maybe mostly mitigated as, once a beat occurs and the player presses abutton, the worst case is that the volume is raised as the kick sample“punch” has already played, missing out on the beginning of the sample.The effect may be subtle, and most players would not notice. But to maskit further, the game may play another sound on top as this is happening.For example, a lower frequency rumble or hiss may suffice, though may bean imperfect cover in case of the sound in question containing a tightkick. This can also be addressed using audio effects such as delay andreverb.

In an ideal scenario, the approach may aim to begin raising the volumeright at the beginning of the kick. However, the game may not know untilthe sample has played for a few milliseconds that the player has presseda button successfully “on beat”. The volume may be raised to maximum atthis point, where the sample looks different. At this point, the audioplayback may have essentially “missed” the punchy part of the kick drum,resulting in a completely different sound. This may be for the most partunavoidable, but by layering another sound effect at this time, the gamemay mask this artifact to a degree. On balance, it may be an acceptabletrade-off for perfectly in sync player feedback and may only benoticeable on the first beat when transitioning from success to failureand vice versa.

Visual feedback may be also be provided to assist the user in timelyproviding on beat inputs. As illustrated in FIG. 8, and according tosome aspects, a game user interface may provide feedback on when a newbeat is about to occur through the in-game reticule 810 at the center ofthe screen. The reticule may indicate on the user interface where theplayer character, in a first-person view or other view, is lookingand/or aiming. In some implementations, the reticule may comprise twofixed arcs 813 on each side of the reticule. These fixed arcs are staticon the screen. An additional two arcs 815 may move from outside of thereticule inwards, towards the two fixed arcs in time with the beat.

When the yellow arcs are in the same position (e.g., overlapping) as thecorresponding fixed arcs, this indicates that we are on a beat in themusic. The yellow additional arcs may continuously move towards and awayfrom the fixed arcs for every beat that occurs in the music. Theadditional arcs may move from outside the fixed arcs, to a pointoverlapping the fixed arcs on the beat, then past the fixed arcs intothe center of the screen as the beat ends. This may provide the player avisual representation of rhythm, available at all times, clearly visiblein the center of the screen.

The time that the yellow additional arcs take to travel from theirstarting position to the middle of the screen, may be set to be the timeit takes for one beat to finish, e.g. 60 seconds/130 bpm=0.46153 secondsof travel.

Weapons and Enemies—on Beat Game Mechanics

Weapons in the game may each have an on-beat and an off-beat effect.On-beat kills (meaning that the player fires the weapon in time with themusic) may give the player more score and opens up enemies for meleeattacks or “overkills”.

When a player action kills an enemy on beat, the game may use moreintense/exciting/over the top visual effects. This may reinforce afeeling of success for well-timed inputs. Enemies may be killed byactions off beat, but without some of the rewards for on beat action.For example, an off beat action such as a weapon swing may do the samedamage as an on beat weapon swing, but the points awards for a kill maybe greater for an on beat action than for an off beat action. Achievinga high score may be the goal of the game for players, so on beat actionsare rewarded.

Different weapons in the game may have alternative fire actions/attacks,or an “ultimate” attack. Ultimate attacks may only be enabled when aweapon-specific ultimate meter has been filed. The ultimate meter for aweapon may fill up when killing enemies on beat. In someimplementations, killing enemies off bear will not contribute to fillingthe ultimate meter. Ultimate attacks may be more powerful and mayprovide players with a significant advantage in certain in-gamesituations.

Players may receive various gameplay bonuses for on-beat actions. Forexample, on-beat actions may provide damage bonuses, with on beatactions doing more damage than off beat attacks. Or, as described above,an on beat kill action may provide more score points than an off beataction. Other gameplay items may determine score, such as whether theaction represented a “headshot.” In some implementations, the highestscore may be achieved by performing a combination of on beat andskillful actions, such as an on beat headshot.

Enemy characters may perform actions in time with the music. Forexample, Marionette enemies may move in beat with the music, glidingfrom one position to the next, every other beat. Instead of moving theenemy continuously, this may be implemented by determining the amount oftime it takes for a number (e.g., 2) of beats to occur, determining adestination position based on a speed attribute of the enemy, and startmoving the enemy on a beat while ending the animation after the numberof beats (e.g. 2).

Bpm-Independent Gameplay Synchronization

Beyond synching up audio with the beat, attacks and animations of bothplayers and enemies may be synched up to the beat as well. This mayemphasize musicality in gameplay. This may present several challenges,particularly for animations that have an enemy reaction component.Within the game, the player can be in any 3D position within the gameworld (within the rules of the game). An enemy may be in any 3Dposition, facing any direction, and/or performing any action. The playerand enemy animations may need to be synchronized, for example to depictthe enemy reacting to a player attack. And the animations may need to besynchronized with the music. For example, the animations in the game maybe controlled to start on a beat, rather than in-between beats and mayscale in speed, depending on the speed of the music.

Attack animations (e.g., special attacks) may thus define a sync pointfor the player and enemy. A sync point may be where the players andenemies need to interpolate their respective positions to arrive duringthe animation. This point may be the starting point for both characterswhen playing the animation. Both the player and enemy animation may beuniform length, according to some aspects, since the speed of theanimation may be dictated by the speed of the music. And the animationmay define how many beats it lasts for.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example method 900 of synchronizing gameplay andanimations. Method 900 may begin at step 905 when the game detectsplayer input corresponding to an attack, such as a special attack. Atstep 910, the game may remove control from the player and begin theattack animation processing. At step 915, the game may translate androtate the player character and the enemy character to synchronizationpoint(s) defined by the animation. The synchronization points may definerespective starting points for the player and enemy characters, in someimplementations. In some implementations, the synchronization point maydefine a center or reference point of the animation, and the playercharacter and enemy character may be located relative to the referencepoint. At step 920 the game may blend a current enemy characteranimation based on a starting position for the enemy character. At step925, the game may determine a time window for the animation. Forexample, the game may determine a time window corresponding to theremaining time between the current beat and a next beat of the music.Depending on the animation length, the distance between the player andthe enemy, and/or the distance between the player/enemy andsynchronization point(s), the game may determine to extend the animationtime window to encompass an additional beat. At step 930, the game maybegin playing the animations to depict the player character asperforming the special attack and to depict the enemy character asresponding to the attack (e.g., being hit by the attack). The animationplayback speed may be determined based on the beats per minute of theaudio track currently playing, which may be used to determine the timewindow in step 925. On completion of the animations, the game mayre-enable control for the player at step 935. The game may re-enable acontrolling logic/artificial intelligence for the enemy character if thespecial attack did not result in killing the enemy.

Latency and Calibration

Different forms of latency may cause the game output and the player'sactual receipt of that output to be out of sync. Latency may take theform of visual latency, audio latency, and/or input latency. But even ifnot technical latency, games may be designed to facilitate “userlatency” or error associated with player's imperfect ability to hit allinput precisely on time. Aspects described herein may help alleviate theimpact of latency on the user's experience, and may adjust the game'sprocessing of input to account for the impact of latency on the player'sinputs and be more forgiving of human error.

Audio latency may correspond to the time it takes for the software totell some hardware to play some kind of sound plus the time it takes forthat sound to reach the player's speakers/headphones and the player'sbrain to perceive it as a sound.

Visual latency may correspond to a delay to render a scene by thesoftware plus a small delay to get the display output to amonitor/television to your monitor. Particularly on televisions, visuallatency can be significant. Rendering things on the screen always comesat some cost, and that cost may be reflected in display latency.

Input latency may correspond to the time it takes for the player topress a button/key and for this to register in the game.

Even with perfect settings in the above categories, there is still ahuman aspect to take into account. Any change in audio/visual latencymay throw a player off—but there is also the simple fact that manypeople are not musical, or not able to coordinate complex gameplay withbeat matching. This can be an important factor in providing the playerwith a fun experience.

According to some aspects, the game may provide basic calibrationoptions to the player, such as moving a slider until an audio beep isaudible at the same time as a dot appears in the UI. But this type ofcalibration only solves part of the problem. To account for reasonablehuman error and provide the player with a reasonably forgivingexperience, the game may adapt to the player during a prolonged lengthof time by checking the input of the player trying to hit a beat vs howfar off the player is to actually performing something on beat (givenany of the 4 above latency types, likely in combination). Based on thisnet “latency” delay, the game may adjust the window for beat matching.

Hitting something on-beat in a game, according to aspects describedherein, means hitting a desired button exactly at the time a beat occursor within a window that is just before the beat or just after the beat.FIG. 10 illustrates such a timing window 1010. Time 1005 may representinput that is perfectly on beat, with times 1020 and 1030 representing aprior and next beat, respectively. Thresholds 1013 and 1015 mayrepresent an acceptable window of time in which input may still beconsidered on beat for beat 1005. The size of this window may be setaccording to the game difficulty, where a small window requires a greatdeal of accuracy (a hard difficulty) and a large window is very lenientwith awarding the player with on-beat effects (an easier difficulty).

In the visualization of FIG. 10, any input that would occur within thewindow, either early, late or substantially/exactly when the beat occurswill be considered a successful on-beat input. The game may account forreasonable human error and the size of the window may be based onproviding the user with a (reasonably) forgiving window, such as awindow of 0.3 seconds during which input may still be considered onbeat. In the example of a 0.3 second window, a user can hit 0.15 secondsearly or late and still be considered on beat. The size of the windowmay be adjusted based on a game difficulty, for example a 0.4 s windowfor easy, 0.3 s for medium, and 0.2 s for easy. The time window may beadjusted forwards or backwards, rather than just in length, to accountfor latency based on latency settings for the user.

By leveraging various aspects of these techniques and/or other featuresdescribed in further detail herein, a game may provide a player with anenhanced, fun experience in a musical rhythm-based game.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: determining a plurality ofmusical acts corresponding to a level of a rhythm-based game, whereineach musical act corresponds to a respective song portion and comprisesa plurality of different audio tracks each comprising versions of therespective song portion, and wherein each audio track of the pluralityof audio tracks for a given musical act corresponds to a respective tierof a set of player performance tiers; beginning the level of therhythm-based game, wherein a beginning of the level corresponds to afirst musical act and a first player performance tier; playing backaudio of a first audio track, of the plurality of different audio trackscorresponding to the first musical act, that corresponds to the firstplayer performance tier; tracking a plurality of player actions using atier meter, wherein player actions performed on beat with the audio of acurrent audio track cause the tier meter to increase; determining, basedon the tier meter, that the player has advanced to a second playerperformance tier of the set of player performance tiers but remainswithin the first musical act; in response to determining that the playerhas advanced to the second player performance tier, playing back audioof a second audio track, of the plurality of different audio trackscorresponding to the first musical act, that corresponds to the secondplayer performance tier; determining, based on the tracked playeractions, that the player meets a trigger criteria to transition to asecond musical act; and in response to determining that the player hasadvanced to the second musical act, playing back audio of a third audiotrack, or the plurality of different audio tracks corresponding to thesecond musical act, that corresponds to the second player performancetier.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein playing back the audio of thesecond audio track comprises transitioning from the first audio track tothe second audio track by continuously lowering a volume of the firstaudio track while increasing a volume of the second audio track.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein playing back the audio of the second audiotrack comprises transitioning from the first audio track to the secondaudio track after waiting for a predefined transition period.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein playing back the audio of the third audiotrack, for the second musical act, comprises transitioning from thesecond audio track to the third audio track by playing a transitionsegment audio track before playing the audio of the third audio track.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger criteria corresponds tothe player entering a defined region of a game world associated with thegame.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger criteria correspondsto a scripted event.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining, based on the tier meter, that the player has regressed tothe first player performance tier of the set of player performance tiersbut remains within the first musical act; and in response to determiningthat the player has regressed to the second player performance tier,playing back audio of the first audio track, of the plurality ofdifferent audio tracks corresponding to the first musical act, thatcorresponds to the first player performance tier.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising: determining, based on the tier meter, that theplayer has advanced to a third player performance tier of the set ofplayer performance tiers after the player has advanced to the secondmusical act; and in response to determining that the player has advancedto the third player performance tier, playing back audio of a fourthaudio track, of the plurality of different audio tracks corresponding tothe second musical act, that corresponds to the third player performancetier.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein a player action is consideredperformed on beat based on player input being received within a definedwindow of time surrounding the beat of the current audio track.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein tracking the plurality of player actionsusing a tier meter comprises tracking a player score corresponding toin-game events.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality ofdifferent audio tracks for a given musical act each represent separatelymastered versions of the same song portion.
 12. The method of claim 1,wherein the plurality of different audio tracks for a given musical acteach add an additional musical element beyond the audio track for aprior player performance tier.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein theaudio tracks for a given musical act loop until the player advances to anext musical act.
 14. A computing device comprising: one or moreprocessors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the computing device to: determine aplurality of musical acts corresponding to a level of a rhythm-basedgame, wherein each musical act corresponds to a respective song portionand comprises a plurality of different audio tracks each comprisingversions of the respective song portion, and wherein each audio track ofthe plurality of audio tracks for a given musical act corresponds to arespective tier of a set of player performance tiers and comprises aseparately mastered version of the song portion corresponding to thegiven musical act; begin the level of the rhythm-based game, wherein abeginning of the level corresponds to a first musical act and a firstplayer performance tier; play back audio of a first audio track, of theplurality of different audio tracks corresponding to the first musicalact, that corresponds to the first player performance tier; track aplurality of player actions using a tier meter, wherein player actionsperformed on beat with the audio of a current audio track cause the tiermeter to increase; determine, based on the tier meter, that the playerhas advanced to a second player performance tier of the set of playerperformance tiers but remains within the first musical act; in responseto determining that the player has advanced to the second playerperformance tier, play back audio of a second audio track, of theplurality of different audio tracks corresponding to the first musicalact, that corresponds to the second player performance tier; determine,based on the tracked player actions, that the player meets a triggercriteria to transition to a second musical act; and in response todetermining that the player has advanced to the second musical act, playback audio of a third audio track, or the plurality of different audiotracks corresponding to the second musical act, that corresponds to thesecond player performance tier.
 15. The computing device of claim 14,wherein the instructions cause the computing device to play back theaudio of the second audio track by causing the computing device to:transition from the first audio track to the second audio track bycontinuously lowering a volume of the first audio track while increasinga volume of the second audio track.
 16. The computing device of claim14, wherein the instructions cause the computing device to play back theaudio of the third audio track by causing the computing device to:transition from the second audio track to the third audio track byplaying a transition segment audio track before playing the audio of thethird audio track.
 17. The computing device of claim 14, wherein thetrigger criteria corresponds to the player entering a defined region ofa game world associated with the game or a scripted event.
 18. Thecomputing device of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause thecomputing device to: determine, based on the tier meter, that the playerhas regressed to the first player performance tier of the set of playerperformance tiers but remains within the first musical act; and inresponse to determining that the player has regressed to the secondplayer performance tier, play back audio of the first audio track, ofthe plurality of different audio tracks corresponding to the firstmusical act, that corresponds to the first player performance tier. 19.The computing device of claim 14, wherein the instructions further causethe computing device to: determine, based on the tier meter, that theplayer has advanced to a third player performance tier of the set ofplayer performance tiers after the player has advanced to the secondmusical act; and in response to determining that the player has advancedto the third player performance tier, play back audio of a fourth audiotrack, of the plurality of different audio tracks corresponding to thesecond musical act, that corresponds to the third player performancetier.
 20. A method comprising: determining a plurality of musical actscorresponding to a level of a rhythm-based game, wherein each musicalact corresponds to a respective song portion and comprises a pluralityof different audio tracks each comprising versions of the respectivesong portion, and wherein each audio track of the plurality of audiotracks for a given musical act corresponds to a respective tier of a setof player performance tiers and comprises a separately mastered versionof the song portion corresponding to the given musical act; beginningthe level of the rhythm-based game, wherein a beginning of the levelcorresponds to a first musical act and a first player performance tier;playing back audio of a first audio track, of the plurality of differentaudio tracks corresponding to the first musical act, that corresponds tothe first player performance tier; tracking a plurality of playeractions using a tier meter, wherein player actions performed on beatwith the audio of a current audio track cause the tier meter toincrease; determining, based on the tier meter, that the player hasadvanced to a second player performance tier of the set of playerperformance tiers but remains within the first musical act; and inresponse to determining that the player has advanced to the secondplayer performance tier, playing back audio of a second audio track, ofthe plurality of different audio tracks corresponding to the firstmusical act, that corresponds to the second player performance tier.